Monday, June 1, 2009

Great Planes ElectriFly Fokker DVII WWI ARF

First of all: what a great plane! Within a few hours of purchasing this little bad boy, I had her up and flying all with a few trim clicks - nothing else. I did follow the manual (surprise, surprise) and applied the recommended throws. After over 20 flights I'm still using the same throws and 30% expo.

Here are my build specs, some pics and a link to a video:

AUW with battery is 665g (about 1.47 lbs)

3S1P (A123) 1100mAh pack (130g)

40A ESC - that's what I had laying around - ordered a smaller ESC to save overall weight

2200kv small outrunner ($9 shipped - eBay)

APC 8x3.8 Slowflyer prop

Spektrum AR6100 rx

(4) Hitec HS-55 servos (2/ailerons, 1 rudder, 1 elevator) - I don't care for these servos, but they were sitting on the bench but I was awaiting my hobbycity HXT900 servos (and I get impatient)

With this setup I get anywhere from 7-8 minutes of flight time. I have (finally) made it a habit to to land her with elevator up to avoid nose-overs - so landings are now smooth, boring and quite uneventful :)

She doesn't need a lot of runway and looks great when performing a smooth rolling takeoff - tail up, wheels still rolling and a gently nudge on the elevator and she's aitborne. As far as I'm concerned she's got zero bad-habits. The same applies to touch-and-go's and landings - gear on deck, tail up, lose the throttle and apply full up elevator. It's a pretty sight to see her land and taxi smoothly.

Below are the obilgatory pics and video - my thanks to Tom for the time he took from his flying to take these!